Adam and Eve
by Suekeiichi Kaiton
Summary: Suppose Asuka ran away from Tokyo-3 after her mind-rape, what would happen after she left? A continuation of the TV series (ignoring End of Eva).4/5/02-Added more to ch.3. Please review!
1. Asuka's Plea

Author's Notes:

This fanfiction takes place during and after episode 22 of the Neon Genesis Evangelion TV series, Asuka's mind-rape. This story was not intended to infringe on the rights of Gainax, ADV, or Viz. Thanks to all who helped inspire me to write this fic, Andrew Huang, Drakken Fyre, and Al-I-bus! This is a slight reworking and addition to the original Asuka's Plea, which might shed some light upon events in the sequel!

Revision 4/8/99: I've decided to rename this Neon Genesis Evangelion-Adam and Eve: Asuka's Plea. All of the old stories will be part of this series.

Revision 8/28/01: Okay! I'm back to EVA from Ranma at the request of several readers to finish Adam and Eve! I won't lie and assure you that I'll finish this time, but I can assure you that it will be one hell of a ride in the meantime! I'm completely revising the story so you can expect a lot of new material in later chapters, as for this one, I think it came out rather well the first time, don't you?

Revision 8/30/01: I've decided to rename the fic, it will now be just "Adam and Eve."

Adam and Eve: Chapter One

Asuka's Plea

A Neon Genesis Evangelion Fanfiction

By Dr. Suekeiichi Kaiton

---Tokyo 3---

It had begun to rain by the time Shinji could escape from NERV headquarters and find Asuka amongst the rubble. He found her huddled on a rooftop, rocking herself back and forth on her heels, in a section cordoned off by yellow NERV tape. The building was not one of the taller skyscrapers so he was able to watch EVA-02 sink slowly into the ground as retrieval teams scrabbled to get the organism out of the rain. With no idea what he should do in this situation, Shinji simply stood behind the tape and watched Asuka curl into a fetal ball on the cold hard concrete.

The attack had been violent, violent not physically as most Angel Attacks were but psychologically violent. The attack was sharp and cutting like the surgeon's scalpel, digging into the furthest reaches of Asuka's mind and tainting it with the black slime of sealed away memories. Shinji watched as she twitched feebly on the stone, her rubber plugsuit squeaking against the rooftop, and cursed his father again. He was at the root of the problem, the black figure that haunted his dreams at night, a bogeyman from his childhood that was all too real and far more frightening because of the fact. He should have disobeyed his father, forced the Eva upward into the rain-soaked streets and saved Asuka by force, what had prevented him? After all, was he not in possession of the strongest EVA?

Shinji knew all to well the answer to his unspoken question: Fear. An emotion he was all too familiar with, fear was at the root of his problems. Fear of rejection, fear of responsibilities, fear of pain, fear of his father. The fears at times threatened to engulf his mindbefore he came to Tokyo 3. Since his arrival the fears had lessened to a certain degree, but like a bad habit, some fears refused to evaporate. His hand clenched at his side.

He hesitantly opened his mouth to speak.

"Shut up, Shinji! I don't need your pity! I don't need anyone!" Asuka screamed, her voice muffled by the plugsuit over her mouth. She curled even closer if it were possible. Shinji stood as she ranted on, weeping cries breaking the monotony of her pain and anguish, patiently waiting for her to tire or fall asleep. The sky had visibly darkened, gray clouds hovering over the sun once again as the heavens opened wide the floodgates and drenched the two children, perhaps the only two people left alive in Tokyo 3, above ground.

Eventually Shinji broke the yellow tape, unheeding the notice of psychological contamination, and pulled Asuka's wet body to him, a bold move for such a shy boy. She didn't try to resist, only giving token insults and a half-hearted blow to the back of his head as he wrapped her in a NERV rescue blanket. It did little to protect them from the elements, but then again they were already drenched anyway so Shinji helped Asuka stumble to the exit, her plugsuit producing a wet squeaky noise as she moved. So down they went on their way to Misato's apartment, never once seeing another living creature in the hail of rain and the bright strobe of lightning. Tokyo 3 was as good as dead now, no one lived in it except for NERV personnel and even they spent most of their time in the staff dorms deep underground for their protection. After a long trek, sloshing through puddles and shivering through thunder, the duo arrived at the intact apartment building of Misato Katsuragi.

As Shinji entered he didn't bother to ask if anyone was home, Misato was still at NERV or at Kaji's. Ever since his unfortunate disappearance, Misato had taken to staying at NERV all night and if she did come home the night was filled with the clatter of empty beer bottles thrown across the living room or the sounds of her howling cries filtering through the walls. He was glad she wasn't home, it would have done little for Asuka's well-being. Asuka mumbled something under her breath as he dragged her to her room, probably something Shinji would want to have heard anyway. As he watched her fall into her bed and cry into the sheets; he, in a brief moments of boldness, followed her inside and depressed the right wrist button on her plugsuit. As air flooded the uniform Shinji picked up Asuka's legs and swung them upwards onto the bed. Confident that she would sleep then, Shinji backed out of the room and slid her door shut.

The apartment was a mess, with empty liquor bottles strewn about along with NERV files and data disks. Misato had gone downhill fast since Kaji's death, and now even Shinji was beginning to feel the strain of his loss, who would he talk to now, man to man? Certainly not his father, and definitely not Makoto or Aoba, he didn't know any of them well enough. Suddenly he realized in a brief moment of clarity that he was alone nowMisato was just a shell, Rei a doll, Kensuke and Touji gone with their families, Pen-Pen gone to live with the Horaki familyand the thought chilled him to the bone.

Late at night, when Misato had passed out and Asuka had stopped snoring, Shinji would think about himself and the future. While not an uncommon thing for boys to do, Shinji would sometimes reflect on his life, how it had started with pain, how now the happiness he'd enjoyed for so long was now degenerating back into pain. On that night, as dead silence reigned in the apartment, Shinji started at the now familiar ceiling and thought of Asuka.

Why had he done that? Why had he taken such initiative and helped her? After all, she had spurned him on numerous occasions, even going so far as physical attacks, so why did he help her back to the apartment instead of leaving her to fend for herself? Was it that he couldn't face such a broken person, couldn't allow them to be alone in some form of conscience towards his tormentor? Or was it that he had feelings for his fellow pilot? Hmmand interesting idea. Did he have feelings for Asuka? Shinji supposed he did, after all didn't they make a good team before with the seventh Angel? Didn't he look out for her in the volcano? Was it possible he wasin love with Asuka?

No. Of course not! If he was in love with anyone it was Rei, Rei who reminded him of his mother but at the same time was her own person with feelings mirroring his own. And yet, wasn't there an undercurrent of envy at Rei for her almost casual relationship with his father, one that he could never have? Yes, Shinji conceded, he was jealous of Rei, but he was also jealous of Asuka, of how it was so easy for her to speak her mind and make new friends while he floundered. If it was not love for Asuka was it hate?

Deciding that he'd had enough introspection for the night, Shinji rolled over onto his side to go back to sleep when he saw Asuka.

She was standing in the doorway, her long red hair falling down her back, her plugsuit loose around her body like a cloak. Shinji watched as she took a single, hesitant step inside his room, her fingers curled around the doorframe like claws. No sooner had the pale moonlight streaming from his window touched her shapely leg, the creamy pallor of her flesh blue in the darkness, than she hissed as if it stung and ran from his room. He didn't dare move as his door slammed shut, bounced, before ending ajar. All that was left of her presence was the open door, Shinji's amazement, and a few stray hairs blowing in the breeze.

Should he go after her? Did he hate her? More important, did he love her? The questions could wait he reasoned, first he had to go after her.

He found her back in her room, the plugsuit lying in a pile at the foot of her bed. She was curled around her sheets in the pitch room, her weeping pushing past him as he watched her writhe. "A-Asuka?" Shinji slid her door open fully to let the moonlight from the living room illuminate her cave.

"Go away!! I don't need your pityShinji Ikari!!!" She threw her pillow at his face but ended up hitting the floor. She looked up from the tangled mass of cloth long enough for Shinji to glimpse the tired, reddened eyes and her unruly hair. "Get away from me you pathetic little boyyou can't help me, I won't let you!" Ah! The root of the problem, her unwillingness to admit defeat or assistance from those around her, Shinji already understood her massive inferiority complex as Kaji explained it, but couldn't fathom the cause, Kaji had never mentioned the reason behind her rages. He looked down at his hand, unconsciously clenching in the darkness, his white skin almost translucent in the light. He wouldn't run away from a teammate, no matter how annoying or violent she may be, the same went for Rei. No matter the level of pity and anger he held towards her before their mission against the fifth Angel, he wasn't about to let her die in the Entry Plug after their victory.

"Asukawhat's wrong?" Shinji pushed her discarded plugsuit under her bed, watching her curl even tighter as he approached. Overcome with a wave of sudden courage and bolstered by the idea of helping someone in need, Shinji sat heavily next to the trembling girl and lay a hand on her head. Asuka twisted away from his touch, so Shinji instead pulled the blanket away from her face to reveal her shattered psyche. Never in all their months fighting side-by-side would Shinji have believed his comrade could cry with such loss and anguish in her soft features. "Asuka"

"Shut up, Shinji! I don't want your pity!!" Asuka drew her hand back to slap him across the face and to her everlasting surprise the blow connected and sent him flailing across the room. Asuka sat up off the bed, stupefied at what she had done. Astonishment, however, twisted into rage as hot tears rolled down her face and left round marks on her blanket. She stood up and kicked Shinji roughly, in the coccyx then knelt down and began to beat on his chest and slap his face, all the while demanding why he didn't fight back. Shinji groaned and yelped under the onslaught but did nothing to hamper the German's righteous fury.

"Why, Shinji?!" Another lap, this one split his lip. "Why don't you fight back!?" Another kick to his soft stomach. "Why are you just taking this!? Because you're stupid?" Asuka's voice caught in her throat and a hacking wail broke through. "B-becausey-you care?" She fell to her knees beside his bruised body, his face already sporting a real shiner. "WHY!?!?" She cradled Shinji's head in her lap, her hands at once going from pulling his short brown hair to running gently through it as her tears splashed on his face.

Shinji lifted his head slowly, one eye swelled shut and blood spilling from his lip. "B-becauseI think I" He passed out before finishing his sentence. Asuka looked back at his peaceful face, then began beating on his chest once again, crying and wailing at him to wake up, to tell her what he meant, to fight back but Shinji never woke to her cries. Eventually, exhausted from her ordeal and mental anguish, Asuka fell into a fitful sleep

---"?"---

Why do you push Shinji away? "Because I hate him!!!!" Why don't you talk to Misato? "Because she stole Kaji away!!!" Kaji never loved you...he used you to get closer to Misato. "No that's not true!!!" Do you love Shinji? "NO!!!!" Why do you hurt Shinji? "Because he's stupid!" Is he stupid because he cares for you? "Yes!" Why? "Because I'm dirty and weak, I'm worthless! Why would he care for me? Why would anyone?" Why do you think that? "Because it's true!" Because your parents abandoned you. "Yes!" Because you failed as a pilot. "Yes!" Because Shinji saved you. "Yes!" Because Ayanami saved you. "Yes! God how many times do I have to say it? Yes!" You are useless. "Whywhy are you telling me this?" You are beneath noticea failure. "W-what should I do than?" Why don't you just run away?

There was blackness in the deepest regions of her mind.

There were unrequited feelings she wished not to reveal or acknowledge.

The beast was growing inside her, pushing everything out of its way.

Asuka floated in the void of anxiety

Asuka stood on a rooftop overlooking Tokyo 3, a rooftop looking remarkably like the one she was just huddled on earlier that day. Boxed into a square of NERV yellow security tape, she found herself powerless as the hulking form of Zeruel appeared from the ground, fluttering arms glinting threateningly in the dusk sunlight. Soon she was not alone; Hikari Horaki materialized in back of her and all of a sudden, Zeruel was not a threat to her any longer

"Asuka, why do you push Shinji away?" The class representative's uniform was cut considerably shorter than regulation and the blouse showed just a hint of Hikari's creamy breasts.

"Because I hate him!!!!"

"Why don't you talk to Misato?"

"Because she stole Kaji away!!!"

"Kaji never loved you...he used you to get closer to Misato." She had heard this before, where she could not say. The words were familiar and somehow distant, like a half-remembered dream.

"No that's not true!!!"

"Do you love Shinji?"

"NO!"

"Fine then, I'll take him." Hikari turned to her side and Shinji appeared to take her arm, Hikari smiled, "Well Asuka, guess who took your man!" Horaki draped her body against his and her blouse fell away, revealing no bra but two rounded breasts with ruby nipples pressing into Shinji's chest. Asuka watched in morbid fascination as Shinji's clothes fell away and Hikari shot her a cruel smirk as their lips met, the couple's clothing falling away as they did. Unable to deal with the anxieties dredged up from her subconscious, Asuka did the only thing she could do in the situation

Scream.

Abruptly the scene changed from the barren desert of Tokyo 3 and the copulating phantoms of Shinji and Hikari, to the deck of the pride of the UN Fleet, the aircraft-carrier Over the Rainbow'. She looked around her, noticing that everything was sideways she recognized the memory of her time on the ship. She sat up from the make-shift dock, pink fluid sloshing across the floats as EVA Unit 02 moved imperceptibly in the holding tank. She was back, back at the time and setting of her greatest heartbreak

"Kaji-san?" The name was spoken shakily, she knew exactly where she was.

Kaji looked up at her body as he lay on the planks, his hands behind his head, smoking a cigarette. "What Asuka?"

"Do you love me?" It was spoken from all around her, she knew that she had not uttered the words that would facilitate such a cruel memory.

"No."

"Why?" Again, the voices came on like a strange cacophony, some she recognized, other she had never heard in her life. She grasped her ears, the loose plugsuit over her shoulders falling off to reveal her smooth, rounded chest for Kaji to see, and shook her head violently in denial.

"Because you're immature and arrogant, thoughtless and brash, no one would love 

one such as that."

"You can't mean that!" This time it was her voice, choked with tears, that spoke to the hollow memories of her greatest failures. She crumpled to the metal grating and pounded her fists into the mesh. Bashing her soft knuckles into the unyielding steel and spilling rivulets of blood into the already pink fluid below.

"I do." He swatted Asuka away like a gnat; she splashed into the pinkish coolant. Asuka struggled to stay above the slippery chemical that burned her eyes and stung her throat but was dragged down by the thick fluid, her kicks powerless, and her efforts futile. Kaji turned his back to her, a final show of defiance. The world around her went dark for a moment before exploding with a single white spotlight at the entrance to the chamber.

"I'll take Shinji off your hands Asuka! He doesn't deserve you!" Hikari had 

her hands all over Shinji, caressing his soft skin.

"Pathetic!" Ritsuko and Maya appeared as Hikari faded, breathing was beginning to grow difficult, Asuka's legs were tiring with the effort to keep afloat.

"Test scores show that Asuka's synch ratio is under 0.00000%" Maya burned her test score printouts, the flickering flame casting her face in angry yellow.

"You disappoint me." Ikari appeared from the darkness behind Ritsuko, his eyes glaring at Asuka across the room. He turned swiftly on his heel and faded like all the others. Soon it was only Rei and Shinji inhabiting her nightmarish stage as she gurgled and spat her way to oblivion at the bottom of the tank.

"Do you love me?" Shinji's pleading haunted eyes stared wistfully through her.

"...." Rei's red orbs focused on Asuka as if draining her oxygen supply. And with that, the pilots disappeared, leaving Asuka to a slow death in a hell of her own making

---"?"---

SEELE 01: We have lost the Lance of Longinus.

SEELE 11: Ikari was at fault

SEELE 04: His resistance is at the root of this problem.

SEELE 06: We never should have trusted him with such an important purpose

SEELE 09: NERV has become a Mecca for traitorsit is time to clean house.

SEELE 01: No, not yetThird Impact is almost fulfilled, the Scrolls detail that a corruption will take place before the ultimate rapture

SEELE 12: We should interrogate Dr. Akagi and Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki.

SEELE 02: The loss of the Mother must not go unpunished.

SEELE 01: No punishmentnot yet. Ikari is planning something, let us see this through to the end.

---Tokyo 3---

Misato looked quickly around her before entering her apartment. The feeling had been nagging at her since Kaji's death, the feeling of closeness, of being watched from afar. She knew that the Children were being followed, and Ritsuko and Fuyutsukibut her? So far nothing had appeared to imply that the feelings were nothing more than that, feelings; however, the darkness around her doorway and the deathly still surrounding Tokyo 3 simply put her on edge on a purely instinctual level. The humid air hung around the city and she could still make out repair crews in the suburbs.

Turning back to her house, it had ceased to be a home since Kaji's death, Misato walked into the darkened kitchen and took three cans of beer. The apartment was quiet in the night, sometimes Asuka would cry, or snore, Shinji would have a nightmare about Rei, or the Chamber of Graf; tonight no one needed her. At times she would think, today I feel like a mother', other times she would think, I feel I've failed the Children', tonight those thoughts didn't come, just a nagging fatigue. She stripped off in the living room, her red jacket and hat crumpled on the sofa, and looked out the window at the ruined buildings across the way. Had she failed them today? Had she failed Asuka today?

A clatter of glass and the screech of the door alerted Misato to Asuka, dragging a single, heavy valise out into the hallway.

"Where do you think you're going, Asuka?" Apparently Asuka hadn't realized she was not alone in the apartment as she spun around and the Major could see streams of tears glittering in the moonlight, the only source of illumination amid the thick darkness over the room. "Where's Shinji-kun?" Asuka did not reply, just stood staring at Misato in astonishment. "Asuka?" The auburn-haired girl grabbed the suitcase and dashed through the hallway and out the door before Misato could react. "Asuka! Asuka, what's wrong!? Come back!!" The purple-haired woman ran after her charge but as she stepped out into the humid night, no trace of her child could be found save a single red synch clip, spinning slowly on the concrete balcony.

---"?"---

"The Second Child has left Tokyo 3just as you predicted." An aged hand tapped impatiently on a smoked-glass desktop. He was growing less and less tolerant of his associate's penchant for plotting.

Another hand, this one swaddled in gauze bandages, picked up an obsidian stone and placed it upon one of the many intersections decorating the board. "YesSEELE has called for Dr. Akagi to assist them in certain inquiries'." The man forgot to mention that his opponent's name was also at the head of that list, next to his own of course.

"Abduction is more likelySEELE seldom does anything these days discretely." The wrinkled hand moved a creamy stone across the board.

"They doit is just that we are looking for things that seem out of place, if we did not know what to expect we would have no indication that SEELE was behind it at alluntil she returned." The bandaged hand hesitated for a moment on one stone before moving another. His opponent frowned in the darkness and scratched his chin.

"DamnStill, doesn't this leave us wanting?" The slender hand shook slightly as it moved a white piece straight into the centre of his opponent's offense. He chuckled softly.

"Nowe have other alternativeseverything is going according to the schedule." The wrapped hand placed a single stone. "You are doneold friend."

"DamnI wish I never introduced you to this game" The statement was multi-layered, the old man leaned back in his chair.

---Two years later---

Asuka walked limply into her apartment, looking for all intents and purposes like a wraith. Her eyes, once vibrant, were dull and lifeless. Her posture, once proud, was slouched and tired. Life had not been easy for the past two years, on the run from NERV agents and living under a false name did not make for permanent living accommodations, but somehow she was managing. She shut the steel door to her apartment with a dull click, not even bothering to lock for safety's sake.

She had cut her hair. Once auburn locks cascaded down her back like a warm blanket and around her shoulders, now her hair was cut short to only cover the back of her neck and done up in a short ponytail. Her bangs remained from before she left but were just slightly longer, long enough the hide the anguished and haunted kind of look she developed of late. Gone was the layer of baby-fat, in it's place was a thin and emaciated-looking young girl on the run from ghosts from her past, both real and imagined. Whereas once she prided herself on her body, now she wished to strip away the burden of flesh and join her mother in the void, only a misguided sense of guilt and unrequited love kept her alive.

She wore the same outfits she took with her from Tokyo 3, of course they had needed alterations since then but in general she had not filled out too much in the two years AWOL. She made ends meet with small jobssome rather pedestrian, some of the more exotic variety. It is said that when one loses faith, life becomes a mere shadow of it's former self, nothing could be more true in Asuka's case. Her soul had fled the cage of her body, ripped unwillingly by her mind from the comfortable environment of Tokyo 3 and left to survive without the body, truly she had left her soul there. Asuka had no sense of self-worth any longer, no job was too demeaning, no task too humiliating if it allowed her to survive another day away from her greatest fearNERV.

Being a modern apartment, even a modern apartment in the slums of Hiroshima 2, she had a television. She considered it a mixed blessing, for as she ran and ran from her responsibilities and the horrors of the Angel War she was able to watch Shinji and Rei defeat the remaining Angels and bring about peace, a peace she could have helped bring about. She watched as the news broke that Shinji had defeated the seventeenth and last Angel with mixed feelings. One, feelings of anger that Shinji would presume to steal the spotlight from her (although no mention of her disappearance was mentioned on the news or radio), and two, a feeling of calm. Since the Angels were gone and the last dispatched, NERV degraded from alert status to code yellow, perhaps they would stop looking for her

Asuka sat up out of the furo and dried herself off, she couldn't stand the feeling of someone else's sweat on her body, in the intimate crevices of her womanhood, but at least it helped stave off rent for another month. She walked out of the bathroom and into the kitchen, preparing a spartan meal mechanically. She ate methodically, eyes never straying from the event horizon of her dimming memories, and cleaned up after herself on automatic. The dark hours before sleep came and the day ended were the hardest, the times when she seriously contemplated suicide, she dreaded the ominous look of her bedroom door staring back at her from across the living room like a leering demonor Angel. She shook her head to dispel the images from her mind, images from the Eva, images from the rape of the fifteenth, images of the repulsive smile of smug self-satisfaction plastered across her mother's hanging corpse. Perhaps Rei lived like this

Rei. She had become like Rei. A soulless doll moving about in a grotesque mockery of life, pretending to live and breath and eat but instead having no compunction to do the tasks save the puppetry of an unknown master. Perhaps it was God's trick on her, to make her stay alive forever but never truly live again. After shrugging on her nightshirt she realized how much like Rei she had become, alone, non-syllabic. The door opened with a horrid creaking as if the crypt of nightmares had been opened to release Hell upon the world or Pandora was repeating her past mistake. She stopped. Hot tears began to well up from the deepest pits of her heart and she threw her nightstand across the room, the synthetic wood shattering into splinters upon impact. She fell to her knees, almost genuflecting the object atop the cotton sheets on her bed.

It was a single card. Three inches across by two inches high, a half a millimeter thick. Black dominated the bottom section, a sleek, glossy black from the darkest depths of man's soul. Asuka felt herself begin to die inside as the streetlights outside flickered on and streamed through her window, illuminating her gift'.

The black was cut halfway lengthwise, a deep garnet taking its place. She grasped the card in both hands, fully intending to bend or break the offending object into piecesbut stopped as she realized that it was what she had wanted for so long. Absolutionit was within her grasp. Emblazoned in the blood-red of the card lay a single insignia, that of an oak leaf and her photograph superimposed over the logo. Tears flowed down her face as she tried to muster the strength to snap the card in half but such strength lies in the powers of Gods and not men. Weeping, Asuka knew that she had finally reached the end of her long journey. Selling herself, her purity, her body, her mind, her soul, all for naught as the game was overand she lost. Yet, even in the face of the horrible filthy things she had done, was there not some hope for redemption? This was what she held in her hands, she realized, it wasn't a venomous snake nor a curse..

It was a blessing and a chance for a new beginning and a silver-lined future.

The door to her apartment opened with the squeak of rusty hinges and the tap of leather-soled shoes. Asuka listened as the men walked through her apartmenttraipsing through her miseryand finally stopped behind her bedroom door. She clutched the ID card to her bosom and looked up as the men opened the door and let the bright halogen lights behind them cast their black suits in shadow.

"Miss Sohryuwe've come to take you back"

---To be continued---

The darkness suits Evangelion much more than the candy-coated version I originally had, doesn't it? During my long hiatus I realized what really drove Eva and that was introspection. Without such flawed characters as Shinji, Misato, Asuka, Gendo, Ritsuko, what would Eva be except a Giant Robot' anime? I find it a particularly nice bit of irony that Rei seems to be the only perfect' character just by virtue of her origin. I thought that since I was going to rewrite the story anyway, why not make it more true to the anime? I have to apologize to my Eva prereaders and hosting webmasters because I haven't contacted you for a year (more or less). If any one of these kind people choose to host my fics again, I am blessed.

C&C to

Dr. Suekeiichi Kaiton

Vze2jcwc@verizon.net


	2. Asuka's Return

Attention: This fanfic is not meant to infringe upon the rights of the copyright holders. All characters belong to Gainax. Thanks to the positive comments! This is the sequel to Asuka's Plea found at SDAT Evangelion fanfiction archive. This story starts seconds after the first ends so if you have not read Asuka's Plea (shame on you) then read it! This fanfic can be classified as alternate reality since Asuka ran away after her mind rape, also bear in mind that all the children are about 17 now. Well, on with the show.

Revision 4/8/99: New name and new outlook. Changed the name to NGE-Adam and Eve: 

Chapter Two-Asuka's Return. 

Revision 9/09/01: Changed the name to simply Adam and Eve.'

Adam and Eve Chapter 2

An Evangelion Fanfiction

By Dr. Suekeiichi Kaiton

---Hiroshima 2---

The two men had taken her downstairs to a black nondescript car, the engine idling as they stepped off the elevator and onto the sidewalk. The night had just begun and the stars were just coming out as sources of illumination as the trio left her slum and settled in the car. They did not leave immediately, apparently the driver was still inside the apartment complex having a word with the landlord. Asuka thought back to the vile things she had allowed him to do to her, the degrading outfits and the actsunspeakable. Needless to say, she was pleased when the last security officer exited the building with blood on his shoes.

As they drove away, Asuka felt that she was closing one chapter of her life and opening the next. Not a feeling, she'd had it when she'd first started her wild escape that warm, humid night after the fifteenth Angel's attack; this was different, now she knew what the new path had in store for her. Still, questions persisted, nagging questions that she knew she could not answer. The security officers never said a word.

Who had sent them? How had they found her? In some far away part of her mind, in a place where her memories of Tokyo 3 were locked away, Asuka wondered what happened to Shinji, ReiMisato. True enough the news blasted the announcement that the last Angel had been defeated by Shinji, but then again NERV also denied that Asuka was missing. Was she truly going to disappear? Did these men intend on erasing the last of NERV's living mistakes? She shuddered at the thought, she would live to see Shinji again, and would live to make a new life for herself.

The streets she had known for the past two years passed by her like cardboard cut-outs or scenery from a playshe knew everyone on the street corners and in the alleys, but now she was leaving. She realized that the past two years had been like a punishment of sorts, a self-imposed punishment to be sure, but a valuable lesson in her life. Certainly she would have never left Tokyo 3 knowing the things she did now, she was no longer the naïve virgin that left those years ago, now she would return and face her personal demonsparticularly a demon called Unit 02.

The men never looked at her, never said anything save a few mumbled orders in the front seat and an order to hang on' as they burst through a police detour. NERV had called her back, the feelings running through her body were strange because for the past two years she had felt absolutely nothingnothing at all. She thought back to the driver walking out of her building with blood on his shoes and wondered if they had killed her landlord, or just wounded him, if it was the latter Asuka sincerely wished that they'd castrated him.

"Pilot Sohryu, we've arrived." The two guards next to her opened the side doors simultaneously and she stepped out the right, her dirty sneakers scuffing on the gravel landing pad of a NERV VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing). If they were taking this, chances were they were taking her back to NERV HQ in Japan, she had briefly entertained notions of going back to the Berlin HQ. The air was cooler that it had been when they arrived at her flat, the darkness leeching the heat from the stones around her. Somehow she empathized with the darkness; she had been a sort of leech for the past two years, she had fed off degradation and lust, humiliation and guilt, of those around her and had become tainted herself. The pain and filth she felt within her soul would not be so easily erased, she felt she needed to do something important once again, even if it killed her.

The group walked up the boarding ramp, the guards looking cautiously around at the bushed surrounding the chain link fence enclosing their position. The VTOL was not as she remembered it inside. Of course the last time she'd been in a VTOL had been before Zeruel, certainly before Bardiel, and then the craft was outfitted for military purposes; this craft was lined with plush seats, the likes of which could be found in the finest sub-orbital transports, and a wet bar. The guards made one final look outside to make sure no right-wing religious fanatics were lurking around the perimeter before giving the okay for takeoff. A lengthy process but one necessary after a VTOL of high-ranking UN members was shot down by Catholic extremists who disapproved of NERV's plans. Asuka had seen a report about it on the news, apparently the Prime Minister had been aboard.

It was sheer coincidence that the PM was one of the UN's staunchest allies and consequently one of NERV's staunchest opponents. Asuka didn't believe in coincidences. NERV planned the attack, she reasoned, to help protect them in case SEELE or the Marduk Institute threatened NERV's sphere of influence; the UN was beholden to both parties, especially SEELE, so having a new PM (Pro-NERV of course) on the UN security council was a definite plus. Still, enough with politics, Asuka thought as she settled into one of the seats and latched herself in as the thrusters roared to life.

Soon, all that was left of Asuka's old life AWOL was an empty apartment leased to nobody, a dirty bath towel one of the guards had forgotten to take, and the decomposing body of her landlord, castrated with his bowels hanging out.

---"?"---

SEELE 08: The second child will soon be back in NERV's hands...

SEELE 01: The Eve of the Scrolls...

SEELE 05: The final barrier between us and God will be shattered if she cooperates. 

SEELE 02: Doubtless Ikari will take strong measures to ensure her safety... 

SEELE 03: Futile. The puppet will only perform with the proper manipulating. 

SEELE 11: True, without us Ikari is nothing, if it weren't for us he would never have the proper tools at his disposal. 

SEELE 10: Yes, but how will we use the puppet after we've cut its strings? 

SEELE 12: The Lancae Longini...that was the only thing that kept Ikari in line, now- 

SEELE 01: The Lance of Longinus can be retrieved. The only problem is when to bring it back. 

SEELE 04: To enact our scenario we need The Mother, The Lance, and Eva Unit Zero... 

SEELE 06: But we could use Eva Unit One and the replica. 

SEELE 02: That would be like asking Ikari to enact his plan. 

SEELE 01: This meeting is adjourned. The lance will return in one month, and our scenario will be realized. This bickering will not accomplish anything, Ikari is our enemy and we must eliminate him. SEELE will personally retake that which was stolen. 

SEELE 09: Do you think that it's wise that SEELE take direct action? We could manipulate the UN into- 

SEELE 07: The mass production model EVAs are entering the final configuration phase. 

SEELE 01: Excellent, Ikari you will rue the day your scheme was hatched. 

SEELE 01-08 disappear leaving 09-12.

SEELE 09: Kihl is hiding something from us... 

SEELE 10: Yes, he seems too eager to destroy NERV and Ikari, he may be letting personal bias influence his decision. 

SEELE 12: Kihl may hold power over the committee but we produce the raw parts. 

SEELE 11: True without us, the project would fail.

SEELE 09-12 disappear, SEELE 01 and 05 reappear.

SEELE 01: They think that we are helpless... 

SEELE 05: None shall stand in our path, our only way to heaven. 

SEELE 01: So it is written so shall it be done. 

---Central Dogma---

Rapid taps echoed off the thick walls of Gendo Ikari's office. The sound of rustling cloth and the tap of fine-made leather shoes indicated to the commander that his latest patsy had arrived on schedule. Fuyutsuki sat at his right hand, content with the small granite desk off to the side of Ikari's massive glass and marble desktop. The blue glow of the Systema Sephirothicum and the Tree of Life pulsed in the darkness of the massive office.

Captain Tenma Honturi was understandably frightened by a visit to Commander Ikari. It wasn't just the rumors of his cold nature or the fact that most of the security people fired by Commander Ikari were no longer alive, he understood that the commander just wanted the best from his subordinatesit was the damn office. Every time he walked in the room it frightened him on a deep down, instinctive, level. How the commander and sub-commander could sit all day long in the space astonished and unsettled him, he could barely stand three minutes. The single thin window running around the circumference of the room didn't help as it made seeing the commander very difficult indeed and only heightened the security officer's anxiety.

"Captain Honturi, report." Gendo laced his fingers in front of his face as the order was given, Fuyutsuki just leaned back in his chair and watched the proceedings with amusement.

"Recovery of the Second Child was successful, Commander. At 20:10:

32 hours, Asuka Langley Sohryu was taken into custody at the Shino Apartment Complex in Hiroshima 2, at 22:12:12 hours the Second Child boarded the VTOL and is now en route to our landing strip off the Kii Peninsula. With so many changeovers it is unlikely a terrorist group will know which VTOL to hit, Miss Sohryu should be back in Tokyo 3 by 02:14:15 hours tomorrow." Honturi was a lean man in his early thirties, muscular but not overly so, with short, close cropped hair and deep blue eyes. Being assigned to NERV's security division at such a young age surprised him, but he gave the job his all and so far had not incurred the Commander's wrathso far.

"Very good, you may go now Captain." Honturi bowed briskly and strode off towards the door, his gait faster than before. He grasped the oaken door's smooth steel handle and pulled the door open, thankful to turn his back on the eerie office space, as Gendo's voice called from the far end, the reverberations off the walls giving it a distorted, mechanical quality. "Your orders are to protect her with your lifeis that clear?"

"Yes sir!" Honturi bowed again and shut the doors firmly behind him. Fuyutsuki chuckled softly from his desk, wiping the side of his face with an aged hand.

"To be so young againwould you want to be young again, Ikari?" Gendo moved imperceptibly and grunted, his answer noncommittal. "I envy them the youth, but sometimes I worry about the young these days"

"You sound older and older with each passing day, Fuyutsuki." Gendo stood from his chair and faced the window, at the new sensor stations being built around Terminal Dogma.

"I feel older with each passing day." Fuyutsuki stood and walked to his friend, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Ikari? Do you really think this is wise?"

"What?"

"Do you think that it's wise to manipulate the council like this? They're still pretty sore at you about the Lance of Longinus" Gendo scoffed. "What are you planning to do?"

Gendo turned away from the window and the pair returned to their seats, his gloves were off today, Fuyutsuki noticed. "My plans have not changed, Fuyutsuki. With the Second Child returning, our plans will soon be complete and I'll have everything I need for the scenario." Ikari opened his desk drawer and pulled out a thick file. "I need you to go to Switzerland, to the UN Finance Summit." Fuyutsuki picked up the file, noting that plane tickets and hotel arrangements were already made, so even if he had said no, Ikari would have made him go anyway.

"You're taking an awful risk, Ikari, the UN budget for defense is already stretched thin enough, I don't think they're going to approve a ten million dollar defense system."

"That is why I'm sending you. If they allocate it or not is irrelevant, I can't be away from headquarters for so long."

"You've included the documentation for our existing' security system, if SEELE even got a hold of this-"

"Precisely my point." Gendo stood up from his desk and boarded the hand-rail elevator leading to Central Dogma. "You leave tomorrow."

"So I'm just a cleaver diversion while the Second returns?"

"Yes."

"And just what am I supposed to do if Kihl is there?"

"Just tell him that everything is going according to the timetable and that the Second Child is already back in Tokyo 3." Gendo disappeared down the tunnel as Fuyutsuki snorted and grimaced at the task ahead of him. Unhurriedly, he gathered his papers and started home to pack, he'd have to hurry to catch the 00:00:00 monorail back to the surface.

---Tokyo 3---

Shinji Ikari lay on his back in the darkness of his room, awake and deep in thought. In the wee night hours before the sun began to rise and after the last monorails had stopped rumbling underground, he savored the silence of darkness around him. He had changed he reasoned, he was no longer pure and naïve as he had once been, things that now were second nature to him would just as soon have repulsed him two years ago. Rei was partly to blame for his change, it was true that she was instrumental in his change for the better, but the root of his bad habits began with an N'. Work was dull and boring nowadays, without the Angels to fight it was just synch test after synch test, sometimes nude, sometimes fully clothed in plugsuits. Sometimes with LCL, sometimes without. Sometimes, and these were few and far between, together with Rei.

Rei. The name had new meanings and feelings associated with it now since the end of the Angel wars. Since the Angels had quieted down and his father had no call for their services as Eva pilots, the two remaining pilots had time to live a normal life, at least for awhile. Still, there was always that invisible barrier between them and the rest of the people around them, as if people didn't want to get close to themas if they were afraid of them. Still for every dozen that were afraid, there was one that was not, as was the case with Touji, Kensuke, and Hikari all of whom had since moved back after Tokyo 3 was rebuilt after the defeat of the seventeenth.

Kaoru, or Tabris, or whatever he was, the memories of those few days with him caused a black wellspring of depression to grow within his heart. He had been a friend, his first real friend since Touji and Kensuke had left andsince Asuka left. He had been a friend, they had even bathed together, talked about the future, talked about the pain of piloting Eva, and yet in the end Shinji killed him. Shinji had crushed Kaoru's body like a tick and burned off his head with the glowing edge of a prog knife, he still had nightmareseven to that day.

As if sensing his distress, the door for his room slid open partially and a creamy leg slipped through.

"Rei? Is that you?" Shinji was wide awake, looking sideways at the open door with her shadow across it. "Rei?" Perhaps it wasn'tHikari could have always crashed on his couch and come in to seduce himbut only in his wildest (and ecchi) dreams.

"Ikari-kunare you feeling alright?" Rei stepped into his room, the moonlight hitting her soft bangs granting her a gauzy, almost ethereal quality. He was somehow glad he had stayed in Misato's old apartment, it just felt like home. "I wasworried about you." Shinji chuckled but the laughter never reached his eyes.

"Well, I didn't mean to worry you. No, I'm fine Rei. Why don't you go back to sleep, we have a joint synch test tomorrow," he looked at the sky, "wellthis morning." She made no motion to leave, just stood in his doorway, her breathing causing her nightshirt to rise and fall. "Is something wrong? Rei?"

"I do not know why, Ikari-kun, but I wish to sleep in your bed." Ah yes, another of Rei's puzzling urges, these episodes almost always occurred before a joint synch test, usually the night before. He couldn't say he minded her closeness, after all they had become one that night after Tabris' defeat, he finding comfort in her arms. "It would not disturb you?"

Shinji propped himself up with an elbow, looking at Rei dressed in white pajamas — clutching her pillow tightly to her chest. "Nono I don't mind." He shifted closer to the wall, letting her settle next to him underneath the blanket, her soft legs caressing his thighs. The smell of her hair was in his nostrils, soft and warm like kitten fur, as she lay on her side, facing him. Her leg slipped between his legs, her arm underneath his shoulder, and Rei finally went to sleep clutching at Shinji. He didn't move, just wrapped his arm underneath Rei's side and pulled her willing unconscious body closer until her soft lips brushed his. In the closeness of the darkness, Shinji Ikari wept.

---NERV installation, Kii Peninsula — connection tunnel---

Asuka disembarked from the VTOL flanked on both sides by NERV security men. They quickly made their way to the safety of the terminal and locked the firedoors shut. Obviously they were taking every precaution, why she couldn't begin to say. Why anyone would have sought her out was beyond her, only that she had some special purpose to NERV now. That was the only reason NERV would ever have called her back, they didn't care about you until they needed your helpbut such was the way of the organization.

"Pilot Sohryu, please follow me." Captain Honturi walked from the deep shadows of the boarding dock as the technicians towed the VTOL back into the hanger, the loud clanging and klaxons wailing around her frail thin body. The captain watched her lifeless eyes follow him to the waiting car, a black Mercedes, as they sat down and began the long ride through NERV's evacuation tunnels criss-crossing the country that would take them straight to the very heart of Terminal Dogma. "It is my duty to see you back to Terminal Dogma alive, I will fulfill my part of the bargain, just abstain from any activities that would place you in any danger. Do you understand?"

Asuka's head swiveled mechanically to regard him with cold eyes. "Yes." She was obviously deep in thought and as he didn't wish to agitate her further, Honturi watched the trail lights fly past them in the dark hollowness of the tunnels. The auburn-haired girl fidgeted with her skirt as the light of the Geofront appeared at the end of the line; thin, almost emaciated, fingers bunched the fabric around her hand as her brow creased in nervousness. "Wherewhere isI-is Shinji Ikari?"

"The Third is currently undergoing synch-testing with Dr. Akagiyou will have a chance to talk with him after your physical." Honturi readied his security badge and handed her a loose chain with her dogtags and a NERV ID passcard. "Hereyou'll need this to get into the city and pass through any level three doors." She accepted the gift and clasped it behind her neck, letting the cold metal slid between her breasts.

"Physical? Why do I have to have a physical?" The car was stopped by three NERV security officers, each carrying an Uzi and several clips of ammo. Whatever had happened in her absence had certainly changed the way NERV operated.

"Standard procedure to reduce the risk of possible Angel contamination." He flashed his ID and the checkpoint let them pass into another tunnel, this time a multi-layered car elevator that would take them down the steep slope of the Geofront and to the flat bottom. "I assume you realize how important that isdon't you?"

Asuka remembered something she'd heardthat the last Angel had reached as far as the heart of Terminal Dogma before being stopped. If it were true, she could readily understand the necessity of a physical. She nodded and they spent the rest of the drive in silence.

Darkness broken by occasional areas of light and ten more security checkpoints before they even reached Central Dogma. It seemed as though NERV had suffered greater problems than those generally known, the level of security was endless now, Asuka simply sat impassively through the process. Inside her tortured mind those pesky doubts began to eat away at her hopes and dreams. She was nothing but an expendable pawn in Ikari's little game, so why did she return? Was it for love? Was it for closure? Was itfor Shinji? The auburn-haired girl truthfully didn't know, all she knew was that she was going back to NERV and facing the ghosts of her past, the ghosts of that day of rain and sadness.

How long had it been since she remembered the full brunt of the Angel's attack? She tried to push it out of her head with sex and alcohol, but both just added to the burden of sins on her back. How could anyone ever care for her?

Honturi watched as Asuka seemed to slowly withdraw into herself the nearer they approached Central Dogma. He had explicit orders not to allow the Pilot to become agitated. Orders were orders

"Commander Ikari and Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki are eagerly anticipating your arrival, Pilot Sohryu, NERV simply hasn't been the same since you left." The friendly smile on his face didn't quite reach his eyes, which looked panicked and terrified. "I believe Major Katsuragi is quite happy we found you after so long."

Found her after so long? NERV had known where she was the entire time, they were just biding their time until they needed to use the 'unstable' pilot again, looking for a suicide mission to send her on. Honturi noticed Asuka's lips move silently, cursing Gendo Ikari. He noted her actions in his mind, if her mental health was not up to par then she would have to be mothballed again - a conclusion he hoped to avoid.

"I'm a freak." Asuka whispered it so silently Honturi wasn't sure whether it was her voice or the hiss of brush under their tires. Tenma looked sharply to the security officer in the passenger seat, eyes encountering an intimidating black screen of mirrored apathy. Had he heard her outburst?

"How much longer until we arrive, corporal?" The shorter of the two officers turned back, as if surprised at the intrusion.

"ETA to gate threefive minutes if the new elevator is functional. Otherwise, fifteen."

Honturi just wanted to get out, get away from Asuka, Pilot Sohryu was having a peculiar effect on his psyche.

---Gate Three, Level EFL-23---

"Has the Second Child arrived yet?" Ritsuko's tinny voice seemed to blare from the micro-speaker around Misato's ear.

"No." The purple-haired woman managed through grit teeth. It wasn't that Ritsuko was being impatient, it wasn't that it was her period, it wasn't that Shinji and Rei were having a joint synch-test; it was just the fifteenth time Ritsuko asked the same question. "For the last time no, I'll tell you when she does."

"Fine." Ritsuko's voice was already irritated, her leg must have been bothering her.

"How are Shinji and Rei doing? Are they almost finished?" Misato stood in the centre of a massive chamber used for transporting vehicles, in this case a car but usually larger transports like mobile headquarters and the like. The tunnel leading back into Central Dogma was dark and even the room was only sparsely lit with orange emergency lights.

"They're fine, I think they fell asleep. Sometimes I think they're a little too comfortable with each other"

Misato saw a glint of metal moving up the shaft. "Hold on, Ritsuko, I think she's here." She clicked off the headset and walked up to the dangerline in front of the transport, her heels echoing metallically in the expansive room. She had prepared herself for thisshe wasn't going to break down in front of Asuka. Not again.

A roar seemed to start up the gaping mouth of the shaft, starting as a dull drone but rising in pitch and baritone until the familiar klaxons and lights could bee seen from the underside of the tram. Misato schooled her features as the wind began to rip at her clothes until suddenly the platform appeared and crashed down into the safety locks with the hollow sounds of technology.

At once Honturi was out, glad to be rid of the Second, and at the other side of the car, opening the door for his passenger. Misato held her breath, expecting the Asuka of old to appear from the car, defiant as ever. Instead she was forced to wait several minutes until a painfully thin ankle stepped out of the car.

Asuka stepped out of the car and looked at her surroundings before taking in the image of Misato standing at the head of the car. To the Chief of Tactical Operations, Asuka looked ragged and emaciated both in body and spirit. She was anorexically thin with very little muscle tone and her eyes were hidden behind a veil of auburn locks. Misato realized that her foolish hope for the old Asuka back was just that., a foolish wish cast by an equally foolish woman. Things had changed, too many things for the world to go back to how it once was. Her eyes began to shimmer with unshed tears.

"Misato?" Asuka looked at her old guardian with dead eyes. The Major had changed, Misato now wore her hair in a perpetual ponytail and wore a formal NERV female uniform rather than the military issue jacket she remembered. The bulge of a sidearm stood out from her jacket.

"Asukawelcome back." As one the two women ran to each other, both wishing for the past to be restored, neither realizing the changes that had been wrought over the span of time. It was foolishness for either of them to think they knew the otherevents had occurred that changed everything. "How was the flight?" Misato tried to smile for her old charge.

"It was alright. Where is Shinji?" Misato looked down as she realized the true motivation behind Asuka's return.

She wrapped an arm around Asuka and led her to the blue sports car she'd owned since Shinji arrived. "Don't worry, Asuka, you'll get to see him soon enough."

---To be continued---


	3. Masada (Unfinished)

---Title---

Adam and Eve

Chapter Three: Masada

A Neon Genesis Evangelion fanfic

By Dr. Suekeiichi Kaiton

---Central Dogma, Pribnow Box---

The little boy floated in nothingness. The area around his body shimmered in the darkness, waves of light scintillating over the thin veil of consciousness. Senses were dulled and he was left with nothing but his own thoughts and fears.

He was Shinji Ikari, at least he thought he was. Was he truly the hero everyone made him out to be above ground? Was he the savior of the world? No, he was just a scared little boy hiding within a suit of armor. He was a spineless waste, seeking gratification from his father and needing the hell that was Eva to justify his existence. He was pathetiche was a wretch. And yetwith all the negative there must come positive, hadn't he saved a few people, if not the world? Hadn't he helped humanity in some small way? Perhaps he wasn't such a waste after all

"Dr. Akagi, I think you should see this." The technician motioned her over to the bank of screen monitoring Shinji's synch-ratio.

"What is it?" The blonde looked down at the screen he motioned to and was surprised by what she saw but not greatly so. Shinji's synch-ratio dipped for a span of ten seconds before returning to the norm, such examples of depression weren't unheard of - especially when dealing with Shinji. "Probably Rei's presence that brought it back up. If this occurs again call me over." Dr. Ritsuko Akagi limped over to where Maya sat, her leg was bothering her that day. "What's the good word, Maya?"

The brunette looked up at her 'sempai' and shook her head. "No changes, combined synch remains at 85 percent, the same as it has been for months." Just then Ritsuko's headset beeped; Misato calling back. Ritsuko tapped the device twice.

"Yes?"

"Ritsuko?"

"Yes?" She was getting annoyed. "What is it Misato?"

"I just picked up Asuka, where would you like her?" She heard the squeal of tires in the background. Ritsuko moaned and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"We won't start the physical and mental tests until tomorrow, you can take her to your place. And remember: no contact with Shinji per Commander Ikari's orders!"

"I remember!" Misato disconnected and the blonde scientist leaned against the console behind her. She felt very old.

Sins weighed heavily upon her mind, mitigated partly by the jolting soreness in her legs. What had she done now by bringing Asuka back - back to the horrors of NERV and EVA? Was it purely to appease Gendo or was it in some misguided effort to change the world - the mystical root of all seekers of knowledge? The thrum of consoles melted away her frustrations, here she was complete, here she was needed. Maya was saying something but no words came from her lips. She wasn't like her mothershe wasn't expendable.

"I'm sorry, Maya, what did you say?" The brunette looked up worriedly at her sempai, her legs must be acting up.

"Their ratios are slightly out of synch. More so than before."

Ritsuko focused her eyes and leaned over Maya's shoulder, gazing intently at the readouts. "What do you mean?"

"Look." She traced the line of their personal synch, the readings of their togetherness with each other and completely independent from the synch with EVA. "Their responses are at least 0.05 percent off." She reached for the printouts from their last joint synch-test. "In the past two years their synch hasn't wavered from 100 percent."

"I see" The blonde brushed back her bangs, evidently Gendo was behind this; he was the only one who could manipulate the Children this way. "Make a note of it and keep monitoring their physical readouts, there may be something off with their body chemistry today." She didn't think so, never before had their genetic peculiarities hampered the tests. She looked out of the glass window at the tank of LCL, the shadow of the test plug wavering with the vibrations of the walls as the orange liquid rippled. At times the hum and rumble of machinery in the Pribnow Box coalesced into a cacophony of roars, like the roar of an outraged god

"Maya?"

"Yes, sempai?" She looked up from her calculations and saw the blonde place a pale hand on the reinforced Plexiglas. Something was amiss

"Schedule Shinji for a physical at 18:00:00." She tore her eyes away from the test and entered a number on the keypad hidden within the folds of her lab coat.

"Yes? Who is this?" A squeal of burning rubber echoed in the background.

"Misato, bring Asuka back here. We'll get her physical out of the way."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

An annoyed sigh crackled through the tinny connection. "Don't give me that load of bull, Ritsuko, you wouldn't just change your mind unless it was something big. What's wrong?"

"I said nothing! Just bring Asuka here alright?" NERV's polymath genius silenced the line and looked back at Maya. "I'll need your help, somehow I don't think Asuka's going to be the most cooperative patient." She could feel a migraine coming on, just what she needed when her legs were acting up

---Terminal Dogma---

He stood at the edge of a vast ocean, at the start of a long and winding destiny.

Gendo Ikari stood on the metal Isle of Man and gazed up at the artificial moon blazing down from the rafters of the cavernous room. All fears were gone, all sins forgotten as he, a mere Son of Adam, stood before the Mother of all. The air was still and stagnant with the stench of blood a tangible force in the chamber. Graf's door was untouched save his hand but the time would ultimately come when that trespass would be sternly punished. The walls were still stained with blood from Unit 02's rampage.

"She is come." He looked at the being restrained by forces of tradition.

The Giant of White looked down.

"You hate heryou cannot abide the idea that she still lives." Gendo smirked cruelly at his creator and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. If that action irritated the Mother she gave no sign of it, almost as if her multi-eyed stare looked past his physical body and pierced his soul. The situation was wrong, paradoxically, it was heretical for a Son to become the Father and yet that was precisely what Gendo intended to do.

Lilith, the first bride of Adam, lay crucified to the blood-red cross - her body sagging on the nails of Truth as life poured from her distended body. The cross was parallel to the tank's bottom, unseen as it was beneath the measureless feet of LCL, but the Giant stared down from an angle, her back separated from the cross itself. The steel mask cut into the white material of her neck but if she felt any discomfort she gave no sign of it, at least none that Gendo acknowledged.

"She is the Eve to my Adam, and you will soon be cast away." The darkness all around him made his tinted lenses appear black, his customary uniform open at the chest revealing a red turtleneck underneath. The chill in the room did not touch him. High above the Mask of SEELE stared down in anger at the simple creature that dared to challenge it's authority. "Adam is here"

White bloodied bandages fell away from his hand, yellow pus and fluid falling to join the soup of LCL, as Gendo displayed the awful handiwork of his plan. His gloved hand pulled the moistened gauze away from the pulsing wound on his wrapped other to exhibit a purple mass of vein and muscle. A grotesque pustule extended from the palm in the vague imitation of an eye, an act only furthered as it blinked with a rotten lid. The growth resembled a magatama or a fetus but only a few people knew exactly what it was. The purple tissue of the thing leached away color from the rest of his hand, iridescent veins ripping up his forearm and wrapping around his knuckles. This was Gendo's moment, this was the result of his long years of solitude and sin; he'd waited for this moment for close to twelve years.

Everything was going according to plan

The pulpy mass of tumorous tissue and subtly serpent-like tails that extended from the torso of the imprisoned giant began to swell, pulsing as the Seven Eyes of God looked down at the creature implanted into Gendo's hand. The white snakes writhed and stretched, vainly trying to reach Ikari as he stood safely beyond their influence, growing toothless mouths and snapping in frustration. Gendo smirked, lowering his hand and sliding on a white glove - denying their union.

"Soon you will have your wish. Her AT Field will not last forever." Off in the distance he could hear the rumble of a speedboat.

The Seven Eyes of God blinked and far away, miles above in the safety and security of man's domain the eyes of EVA Unit 01 and 02 flashed white. Technicians and workers would swear to their families and each other that it was almost as if the Units had blinked, the very idea sending chills down their spines.

As Gendo Ikari stood in the boat as they approached Graf's door he looked at Lilith with a cold calculating gaze. "I will become Amitiel to refuse God's idea of Lifelet us hope I survive"

Unseen in the raising gray fog of Graf's Chamber, Lilith's fingers stretched out as if vainly trying to reach for him as Heaven's Gate closed.

---Switzerland---

Fuyutsuki knuckled his back as he left the hotel. If Ikari was going to ship a sixty five year old man halfway across the world then the least he could do was ensure that the beds were soft. A chilly wind ruffled his coat and he had to grab his hat lest it blow away. The UN Summit building loomed over the quaint town; he'd have to take the skytram. From the base of the mountain the 18th century castle looked enormous, a grand confection of stone and wood flying high amongst the clouds; a bold façade for such a weak organization.

People milled about on the streets leading to the skytram station, most dressed as he was and here on official business for their respective countries, he didn't blame them for the harsh glares directed at his loathsome form in trenchcoat and homburg. Over the years, NERV had developed quite a bit of animosity from developing nations, those African and Middle Eastern countries seeking economic sanctions and aid came directly after NERV and as such didn't get as much aid as possible. Fuyutsuki was sure his proposal for a new defense system was going to go over like an N2 mine, no doubt Somalia was going to start an argument again. He could feel a headache already.

The skytram was built for six passengers but Fuyutsuki was the only one aboard, apparently the other nations really resented NERV now. He somehow doubted that many countries would stand up to defend NERV if worse came to worse, perhaps to save their own hides but certainly not for diplomatic relations. He sat quietly as the cube ascended and napped lightly until the jarring sensation of landing woke him. Wiping his eyes and plucking his hat from the seat next to him he exited the old 20th century construct and gazed up at the imposing portcullis of the building.

Regardless of the building's age, the inside was completely modern down to the DSL connections in all the guest rooms. NERV being on bad terms with SEELE, the shadow organization that ran the United Nations, was never invited to spend the night in the castle itself; another reason he resented Ikari doing this to him, Fuyutsuki mused as he knuckled his back again. Reluctantly he plodded inside as the main bell rang to herald the beginning of deliberations.

"Professor" Kozou's eyes expanded until they threatened to swallow his face. "How good to see you again."

"I haven't been called that since your 'summons', Kihl." An elderly-looking man looked up at the tall sixty-year old through a ruby red band of fiberoptic sensors in his visor. He wore a traditional suit in lieu of his green robes and stooped over for effect. A thin cane lay in his right hand. "Back giving you trouble?" Sarcasm dripped from his words.

"Why are you here, Professor Fuyutsuki? What does Ikari hope to accomplish?" The bent form of Lorenz Kihl stepped up the stairs leading to the UN Chairmen's board. "What is the project's status?"

"On schedule, the Second has returned and is undergoing tests." The old man hid his obvious displeasure at Fuyutsuki's announcement. Another bell rang signaling that caucus was in session. His hand fell on the door handle before Kihl's strong aged tone stopped him dead.

"The UN will never accept your defense proposal, you should never have come here, professor." The peculiar old man chuckled to himself as the sub-commander left and walked into the hall, sitting with his subordinates behind the UN Security Council panel.


	4. Masada (Updated 4/5/02)

---Title---

Adam and Eve

Chapter Three: Masada

A Neon Genesis Evangelion fanfic

By Dr. Suekeiichi Kaiton

---Central Dogma, Pribnow Box---

The little boy floated in nothingness. The area around his body shimmered in the darkness, waves of light scintillating over the thin veil of consciousness. Senses were dulled and he was left with nothing but his own thoughts and fears.

He was Shinji Ikari, at least he thought he was. Was he truly the hero everyone made him out to be above ground? Was he the savior of the world? No, he was just a scared little boy hiding within a suit of armor. He was a spineless waste, seeking gratification from his father and needing the hell that was Eva to justify his existence. He was pathetiche was a wretch. And yetwith all the negative there must come positive, hadn't he saved a few people, if not the world? Hadn't he helped humanity in some small way? Perhaps he wasn't such a waste after all

"Dr. Akagi, I think you should see this." The technician motioned her over to the bank of screen monitoring Shinji's synch-ratio.

"What is it?" The blonde looked down at the screen he motioned to and was surprised by what she saw but not greatly so. Shinji's synch-ratio dipped for a span of ten seconds before returning to the norm, such examples of depression weren't unheard of - especially when dealing with Shinji. "Probably Rei's presence that brought it back up. If this occurs again call me over." Dr. Ritsuko Akagi limped over to where Maya sat, her leg was bothering her that day. "What's the good word, Maya?"

The brunette looked up at her 'sempai' and shook her head. "No changes, combined synch remains at 85 percent, the same as it has been for months." Just then Ritsuko's headset beeped; Misato calling back. Ritsuko tapped the device twice.

"Yes?"

"Ritsuko?"

"Yes?" She was getting annoyed. "What is it Misato?"

"I just picked up Asuka, where would you like her?" She heard the squeal of tires in the background. Ritsuko moaned and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"We won't start the physical and mental tests until tomorrow, you can take her to your place. And remember: no contact with Shinji per Commander Ikari's orders!"

"I remember!" Misato disconnected and the blonde scientist leaned against the console behind her. She felt very old.

Sins weighed heavily upon her mind, mitigated partly by the jolting soreness in her legs. What had she done now by bringing Asuka back - back to the horrors of NERV and EVA? Was it purely to appease Gendo or was it in some misguided effort to change the world - the mystical root of all seekers of knowledge? The thrum of consoles melted away her frustrations, here she was complete, here she was needed. Maya was saying something but no words came from her lips. She wasn't like her mothershe wasn't expendable.

"I'm sorry, Maya, what did you say?" The brunette looked up worriedly at her sempai, her legs must be acting up.

"Their ratios are slightly out of synch. More so than before."

Ritsuko focused her eyes and leaned over Maya's shoulder, gazing intently at the readouts. "What do you mean?"

"Look." She traced the line of their personal synch, the readings of their togetherness with each other and completely independent from the synch with EVA. "Their responses are at least 0.05 percent off." She reached for the printouts from their last joint synch-test. "In the past two years their synch hasn't wavered from 100 percent."

"I see" The blonde brushed back her bangs, evidently Gendo was behind this; he was the only one who could manipulate the Children this way. "Make a note of it and keep monitoring their physical readouts, there may be something off with their body chemistry today." She didn't think so, never before had their genetic peculiarities hampered the tests. She looked out of the glass window at the tank of LCL, the shadow of the test plug wavering with the vibrations of the walls as the orange liquid rippled. At times the hum and rumble of machinery in the Pribnow Box coalesced into a cacophony of roars, like the roar of an outraged god

"Maya?"

"Yes, sempai?" She looked up from her calculations and saw the blonde place a pale hand on the reinforced Plexiglas. Something was amiss

"Schedule Shinji for a physical at 18:00:00." She tore her eyes away from the test and entered a number on the keypad hidden within the folds of her lab coat.

"Yes? Who is this?" A squeal of burning rubber echoed in the background.

"Misato, bring Asuka back here. We'll get her physical out of the way."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

An annoyed sigh crackled through the tinny connection. "Don't give me that load of bull, Ritsuko, you wouldn't just change your mind unless it was something big. What's wrong?"

"I said nothing! Just bring Asuka here alright?" NERV's polymath genius silenced the line and looked back at Maya. "I'll need your help, somehow I don't think Asuka's going to be the most cooperative patient." She could feel a migraine coming on, just what she needed when her legs were acting up

---Terminal Dogma---

He stood at the edge of a vast ocean, at the start of a long and winding destiny.

Gendo Ikari stood on the metal Isle of Man and gazed up at the artificial moon blazing down from the rafters of the cavernous room. All fears were gone, all sins forgotten as he, a mere Son of Adam, stood before the Mother of all. The air was still and stagnant with the stench of blood a tangible force in the chamber. Graf's door was untouched save his hand but the time would ultimately come when that trespass would be sternly punished. The walls were still stained with blood from Unit 02's rampage.

"She is come." He looked at the being restrained by forces of tradition.

The Giant of White looked down.

"You hate heryou cannot abide the idea that she still lives." Gendo smirked cruelly at his creator and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. If that action irritated the Mother she gave no sign of it, almost as if her multi-eyed stare looked past his physical body and pierced his soul. The situation was wrong, paradoxically, it was heretical for a Son to become the Father and yet that was precisely what Gendo intended to do.

Lilith, the first bride of Adam, lay crucified to the blood-red cross - her body sagging on the nails of Truth as life poured from her distended body. The cross was parallel to the tank's bottom, unseen as it was beneath the measureless feet of LCL, but the Giant stared down from an angle, her back separated from the cross itself. The steel mask cut into the white material of her neck but if she felt any discomfort she gave no sign of it, at least none that Gendo acknowledged.

"She is the Eve to my Adam, and you will soon be cast away." The darkness all around him made his tinted lenses appear black, his customary uniform open at the chest revealing a red turtleneck underneath. The chill in the room did not touch him. High above the Mask of SEELE stared down in anger at the simple creature that dared to challenge it's authority. "Adam is here"

White bloodied bandages fell away from his hand, yellow pus and fluid falling to join the soup of LCL, as Gendo displayed the awful handiwork of his plan. His gloved hand pulled the moistened gauze away from the pulsing wound on his wrapped other to exhibit a purple mass of vein and muscle. A grotesque pustule extended from the palm in the vague imitation of an eye, an act only furthered as it blinked with a rotten lid. The growth resembled a magatama or a fetus but only a few people knew exactly what it was. The purple tissue of the thing leached away color from the rest of his hand, iridescent veins ripping up his forearm and wrapping around his knuckles. This was Gendo's moment, this was the result of his long years of solitude and sin; he'd waited for this moment for close to twelve years.

Everything was going according to plan

The pulpy mass of tumorous tissue and subtly serpent-like tails that extended from the torso of the imprisoned giant began to swell, pulsing as the Seven Eyes of God looked down at the creature implanted into Gendo's hand. The white snakes writhed and stretched, vainly trying to reach Ikari as he stood safely beyond their influence, growing toothless mouths and snapping in frustration. Gendo smirked, lowering his hand and sliding on a white glove - denying their union.

"Soon you will have your wish. Her AT Field will not last forever." Off in the distance he could hear the rumble of a speedboat.

The Seven Eyes of God blinked and far away, miles above in the safety and security of man's domain the eyes of EVA Unit 01 and 02 flashed white. Technicians and workers would swear to their families and each other that it was almost as if the Units had blinked, the very idea sending chills down their spines.

As Gendo Ikari stood in the boat as they approached Graf's door he looked at Lilith with a cold calculating gaze. "I will become Amitiel to refuse God's idea of Lifelet us hope I survive"

Unseen in the raising gray fog of Graf's Chamber, Lilith's fingers stretched out as if vainly trying to reach for him as Heaven's Gate closed.

---Switzerland---

Fuyutsuki knuckled his back as he left the hotel. If Ikari was going to ship a sixty five year old man halfway across the world then the least he could do was ensure that the beds were soft. A chilly wind ruffled his coat and he had to grab his hat lest it blow away. The UN Summit building loomed over the quaint town; he'd have to take the skytram. From the base of the mountain the 18th century castle looked enormous, a grand confection of stone and wood flying high amongst the clouds; a bold façade for such a weak organization.

People milled about on the streets leading to the skytram station, most dressed as he was and here on official business for their respective countries, he didn't blame them for the harsh glares directed at his loathsome form in trenchcoat and homburg. Over the years, NERV had developed quite a bit of animosity from developing nations, those African and Middle Eastern countries seeking economic sanctions and aid came directly after NERV and as such didn't get as much aid as possible. Fuyutsuki was sure his proposal for a new defense system was going to go over like an N2 mine, no doubt Somalia was going to start an argument again. He could feel a headache already.

The skytram was built for six passengers but Fuyutsuki was the only one aboard, apparently the other nations really resented NERV now. He somehow doubted that many countries would stand up to defend NERV if worse came to worse, perhaps to save their own hides but certainly not for diplomatic relations. He sat quietly as the cube ascended and napped lightly until the jarring sensation of landing woke him. Wiping his eyes and plucking his hat from the seat next to him he exited the old 20th century construct and gazed up at the imposing portcullis of the building.

Regardless of the building's age, the inside was completely modern down to the DSL connections in all the guest rooms. NERV being on bad terms with SEELE, the shadow organization that ran the United Nations, was never invited to spend the night in the castle itself; another reason he resented Ikari doing this to him, Fuyutsuki mused as he knuckled his back again. Reluctantly he plodded inside as the main bell rang to herald the beginning of deliberations.

"Professor" Kozou's eyes expanded until they threatened to swallow his face. "How good to see you again."

"I haven't been called that since your 'summons', Kihl." An elderly-looking man looked up at the tall sixty-year old through a ruby red band of fiberoptic sensors in his visor. He wore a traditional suit in lieu of his green robes and stooped over for effect. A thin cane lay in his right hand. "Back giving you trouble?" Sarcasm dripped from his words.

"Why are you here, Professor Fuyutsuki? What does Ikari hope to accomplish?" The bent form of Lorenz Kihl stepped up the stairs leading to the UN Chairmen's board. "What is the project's status?"

"On schedule, the Second has returned and is undergoing tests." The old man hid his obvious displeasure at Fuyutsuki's announcement. Another bell rang signaling that caucus was in session. His hand fell on the door handle before Kihl's strong aged tone stopped him dead.

"The UN will never accept your defense proposal, you should never have come here, professor." The peculiar old man chuckled to himself as the sub-commander left and walked into the hall, sitting with his subordinates behind the UN Security Council panel. Fuyutsuki sat heavily in the upper tiers of the congress room and laid out his papers and transparencies on the holoscreen projector on his desk. A granite little plate sat at the lip of his seat, the words 'NERV - Fuyutsuki' engraved proudly into the speckled stone. His neighbor leaned in conspiratorially.

"I hope you don't think to ask us for another hand-out, Fuyutsuki, the budget is stretched thin as it is." The delegate from Kenya was looking for more UN aid to fund a twenty billion dollar irrigation project they'd been working on for years. The old man smiled wryly at the sun-darkened man and tapped the side of his nose. "I thought so, how can you NERV people," the African man spat out the name like an expletive, "live with yourselves knowing all you're doing is taking money out of starving children's hands?"

"Surely you realize the destructive power of the Angels, Mr. Geives? If NERV didn't exist they would have progressed further than Japan, I'll tell you that right now. If I recall correctly, your irrigation project has been lying stagnant since 2001. Care to explain where all the millions of dollars went?" The delegate sputtered and frothed at the mouth but was unable to come up with an agreeable retort to Kozou's scathing observation. The metal partition between them rose quickly and Fuyutsuki was alone again with his thoughts as Kihl rose from the bench.

"I now call this session of the Security Council to order! We have twenty proposals under consideration and very little time, would the delegate from the NERV autonomous international agency please stand."

Fuyutsuki rose from his chair and a blueprint of NERV's 'security system' appeared in the centre of the bowl-shaped room. "If it pleases the chair I would like to make a request"

---Tokyo-3---

"Do you feel different, Rei?" Shinji walked along the sidewalk in a white dress-shirt and black pants, his schoolbag swinging by his side. Rei was walking quietly behind him, her bag held in both hands in front of her legs, they had just finished their school tutoring. Since the attacks, both pilots had been forced to suffer through mandatory tutoring if they missed classes. Neither pilot had to take an entrance exam, nor would either of them ever suffer the exam-testing hell that students a generation ago died over; they would simply advance to the college of NERV's choice.

"I do not understand, Ikari-kun." Rei's red eyes flashed at the back of his head as he stopped walking back towards the apartment. Misato wouldn't be back until the evening, and only then to pick him up for a physical exam, so they were in no rush to reach home. "Do you feel different?"

Shinji shook his head and sat down at a bench outside a newly finished playground. Rei continued until she was standing in front of him, her shadow making his face all but indistinguishable. "Don't you? So much has changed, we're not so important anymore but I can't shake the feeling that something's changed inside." Rei continued staring at him, not even bothering to blink.

"Something has changed inside, Ikari-kun, our bodies have grown as we have matured, we are not the same as we were two years ago."

"No, not like that, Rei." Shinji looked up into her crimson orbs and the sun highlighted his cheeks in sallow shadow and thin light. He looked like a corpse. "Sometimes I feel like there's something inside of me, growing, feeding off my bodyI can't describe it, it's just there."

"Have you told this to Dr. Akagi or Maj. Katsuragi?"

"No, it doesn't happen that often." Rei sat down next to him with her bag in her lap, staring off across the street as Shinji began to calm down. He stood from the bench and fished for change in his pockets, eventually yielding enough to buy tea from the vending machine nearby. His shadow was cast over Rei as he leaned down and handed her a can. She slowly took the wet can and sipped slowly from the lip as Shinji settled back into his spot.

"Could this feeling have something to do with me?"

"Maybe, Rei, I really don't know." He was hunched over with his elbows resting on his knees, his face slumped down between them. The can dangled from his right hand, a bit of liquid absorbed into his chinos.

"This feelingis it because we became one?" Shinji's head whipped in her direction, an action so fast that Rei was startled slightly as he grasped her shoulders and shook her vigorously. "What is the matter, Ikari-kun?"

"It's not because of that, Rei, that was good - this feeling is bad. Please don't compare the two ever again." He fell into her arms and began to cry, why she could not begin to fathom. As his salty tears dripped into her teal dress, the blue-haired girl slowly embraced him and held his head to her shoulder. Why she did this she did not know, all she knew was the driving need to comfort the boy in her arms.

They sat like that for a while, Rei rocking him gently back and forth as Shinji wept into her dress, but eventually the tide ebbed and he pulled away, wiping the residual tears from his face. Not quiet collected and not still emotionally shaken, he took her hand and started back to the apartment. Together they kept a steady pace as both made their way up to their home, Shinji fumbling with the key in his haste, Rei never faltering from his side.

As he walked straight to her room, Rei began to undress, knowing that by the time she reached her bed he would be attired similarly. They lay down under her sheets, naked and close as Shinji frantically cried once more and eventually nature took its course once more.

---Switzerland---

"...therefore the funds and augmented budget given by the UN to the NERV organization is not sufficient." Fuyutsuki sat down. He had been talking for the last hour, he hadn't done so much talking since his teaching days. Delegate Geives had immediately begun the tirade against Fuyutsuki's proposal, violently defaming the NERV organization and it's reputation. The elderly sub-commander simply sat back and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Decorum! Decorum, gentleman, please! Due to the rushed nature of this summit, the Chair will not confer to deliberate this item." Kihl, as master of ceremonies, stepped down from the podium and into the rectangular pit where he and the other members of SEELE sat as heads of the UN Security Council.

Fuyutsuki ignored the shouts from the Somalia delegation and slid the documents he'd shown over the holoscreen back into his briefcase. If he was correct in his assumption, and he usually was where Kihl was concerned, they would make a decision anytime now.

Sure enough, Kihl stood from the group and mounted the pulpit again, his steel cane echoing off the walls. Fuyutsuki watched as he tapped his gavel twice for attention and cleared his throat.

"As the representative of the Chair of the United Nations Security Council emergency aid summit, we hereby allocate the appropriate funds to the NERV Organization for essential reconfiguration of security protocols." The chamber immediately burst into a cacophonous roar of objections. The NERV delegate wisely decided it was time to leave, and headed towards the back door.

If he hadn't known better, he'd have said that Kihl was smirking as he delivered the verdict.

---unfinished---


End file.
